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without respect, no amount of pay or benefits or new truck or support staffing is gonna make it work for you!

Finding a service contractor who has an actual office is a plus.
One with a shop is even good. A fenced in "bone yard" is an additional feature.
Someone who has several trucks on the road is good. But not necessarily the tops on my list.

An outfit with a listed phone number is good. One with Yellow Page advertising is a positive feature.

From there, it is a crap shoot as to what is important.

In my opinion, I would do more for someone who demonstrates respect. Rather than for someone who is a micro-manager or nit-picker.

A micro manager is someone who has serious control issues and has no people skills whatsoever!

A manager either makes or breaks the company you work for. It is not up to the service mechanics to do this, a manager has far more influence over the success or failure of a service contracting business than the techs do themselves!

How about quality of customer base and rates charged. If a company is only going to charge me out at 60 an hour, then how are they ever going to pay me what Im worth, provide training, paid time off, the occasional call-back. Companies with a tight profit margin are always going to be looking for ways to get their heads above water.

Originally posted by cg2 How about quality of customer base and rates charged. If a company is only going to charge me out at 60 an hour, then how are they ever going to pay me what Im worth, provide training, paid time off, the occasional call-back. Companies with a tight profit margin are always going to be looking for ways to get their heads above water.

Once again, this boils down to a matter of respect. How is anyone gonna demonstrate respect for their men if do not have the brains to manage a company correctly?
And charging $60 an hour for a field service mechanic is ridiculous!!! In fact, it is shameful!

getting colder, getting hotter?

Originally posted by thermotron1 Just curious....what are the top 5 qualities that you look for when speaking to employers?

I would think that 1)honesty/integrity 2)support 3)training/advancement 4)pay 5)benefits would be the top 5 things *in that order* to look for. Thats just me though, what do you think?

For me IT's
1. I dont care if theyre honest abe or con man sham,of course i dont want to be part of a scandelous russian company or chinese, or arabian/paki/iraqi/iranian company, but,, if theyre solid, whether bouncing back or not and they got the customers,, its all about making lots of green!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!
Bottom Line!
as long as the money is always there, that means a guarenteed 40hr work week or plus, without having to work 50-60 hrs to make forty, no matter how they charge the customer! and keep it that way or dont try to pressure me for doing things their way, especially when its wrong!

2. I get a kick out of these contractors that, tell you to go back out there and do it their way, and you were right in the first place, its quite common, for these guys out there, then you just have to bill them for doubting your skills, when it was done right the first time!

3. Respect/money is number one they share the spot, theres no one or the other theyre Equally importante, in my book, and thats in spanish, too! Imagine that!

4. I got a good boss, compared to the last guy I worked for, this guy is like a god send!
He just sends me to do my job! thats it bottom line! wow
what more could a guy ask for?
pay is on the low end, but i cant complain, kids will have a x-mas!
I think I will put him on my x-mas list,,,
boss appreciation day, for sures!

qualities

After being on both sides of the isle, I would definetly agree with R12rules! At the end of the day it always comes down to the relationship between you and your boss. When looking at a prospective employer I believe the most important consideration to keep in mind is ( What are you looking for, and willing to give to get there)? I interview techs. looking for work just for the money, further knowledge of trade, or a consistant paycheck. Are you an employee just passing through or willing to join a team and be a player? Bring answers or questions, solutions or problems? Even though I have trained a lot of techs. only to have them quit and go for the big money, I always gave respect and got it back! Topp tech. is going to max at 40 an hour in this trade, and you better be good and willing to assume all the responsibility from A to Z. After the respect fact, you must look for whats going to get you where you are going, and or take care of immediate circumstances. Do you have dependants? Do you need health insurance? How long are you planning on staying with the company? Do They have a retirement program? Is there a company match? Just a thought. Regard, mckim

lets see

1.the company assume their own costs of operation.
meaning dont put costs of running truck, phone bills, parts cost on the employee, its not the employees responsibility to be the employers accounting department.
the company makes the money the employee should not have to pay the companies bills and then wait for his money back.
if they do then they should put up a petty cash funds to the employee before hand and then have the reciepts submitted
cause i havent seen too many owners pay for things for the company out of their money and then wait for funds back. owners carries credit cards of the company,
2. wages fair for the cost of living in the area of the work.
3. benifits, insurance, holidays, PTO,
4. all tools, this includes truck, unless the company will cover replacement costs,
5. hours, and no on call without being compensated, the medical field gets this, most other companies do, if you want an employee to set by his phone waiting for the phone to ring, then he is working, cause you have restricted his freedom, you require him to do anything for you then pay him for that
most on call time gets compensated at 15% per hour of base pay, and double time when he answers a call

1.the company assume their own costs of operation.
meaning dont put costs of running truck, phone bills, parts cost on the employee, its not the employees responsibility to be the employers accounting department.
the company makes the money the employee should not have to pay the companies bills and then wait for his money back.
if they do then they should put up a petty cash funds to the employee before hand and then have the reciepts submitted
cause i havent seen too many owners pay for things for the company out of their money and then wait for funds back. owners carries credit cards of the company,
2. wages fair for the cost of living in the area of the work.
3. benifits, insurance, holidays, PTO,
4. all tools, this includes truck, unless the company will cover replacement costs,
5. hours, and no on call without being compensated, the medical field gets this, most other companies do, if you want an employee to set by his phone waiting for the phone to ring, then he is working, cause you have restricted his freedom, you require him to do anything for you then pay him for that
most on call time gets compensated at 15% per hour of base pay, and double time when he answers a call

This boils down to respect, once more.

When I respect you, you simply show me a receipt and I simply write you a check or hand you the cash. No problemo.

Some want to fool around asking questions about :"what was the part for?" "was it really necessary for you to pay for this out of pocket? Afterall, there was a supply house only 75 miles awy from you... why didnt you just drive there and buy it? Then we'd have 90 days or longer before we have to pay for it!"

When I respect you, you simply show me a receipt and I simply write you a check or hand you the cash. No problemo.

Some want to fool around asking questions about :"what was the part for?" "was it really necessary for you to pay for this out of pocket? Afterall, there was a supply house only 75 miles awy from you... why didnt you just drive there and buy it? Then we'd have 90 days or longer before we have to pay for it!"

Seriously, some folks are THAT bad!

you missed my point, If they respect me give me an credit card, or gas card.
why does an company expect me to pay their bills?
especially when they hold back pay check for week, but i have to pay out for their operating cost imediately. its their costs, why am i paying them?
that my point. their costs are their responsibility to pay. this process is using my credit to cover them. this ISNT my responsibility. its theirs, from the very begining. its just an hook to get your funds involved in the company.
then does the owner have to do this? I would guess he has an company card to pay his company expenses. gas, hotels, etc.
the expense of the operation of the company is the company's not the employee's,
I did this ONCE and the company wouldnt pay me for my time it took to keep these records and time to send it all in and wait for the money to come back,
thats money and time out of my familly life, food thats not on the table for an week or bills not paid till i get the funds back, & time that i WASNT being compensated for,. however if they had these record keeping in the office they would have to pay someone to keep track. it is an way for the company to get something that woud normally be a cost and put it on the employee and not pay him for it, thats my point.FEDERAL Law say anything i do that is for the employer I get compensated for, they miss this and think some dont know the law.
I am not an pro book keeper, they would be able to do this much more cost effectively in comparison to my time, thats my point,
now if they give me an petty cash funds up front then the funds are not out of my food money. then it would not be so bad, however my time still isnt free, and back to cost effectiveness versus my bookeeping